


Lichtenberg

by tea_leaf_reader



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: And I guess that's it?, I know very little about hospitals and how they work so I simply winged it, Light Angst, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 11:04:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14567640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tea_leaf_reader/pseuds/tea_leaf_reader
Summary: The one in which Nikki gets struck by lightning.





	Lichtenberg

Her room was relatively quiet for once. 

There were no more nurses incessantly and irritatingly fussing over her, asking if she wanted a drink, something to eat, another blanket if the AC was getting the better of her. No more doctors parading in and out with their clipboards and their stethoscopes and their ballpoint pens that  _click-click-clicked_ and never seemed to stop clicking, not for a single second. No more pain either, and she could be thankful for that even if the IV that was presently lodged in her arm was itchy and uncomfortable and she really wanted nothing more than to rip it out with her teeth and let the translucent fluid to drip on the tiled flooring

Nikki pouted, eyes flickering down to the cup of chocolate pudding in front of her. 

It was just a little lightning, nothing to get too worked up over. She wasn’t dead, she was barely hurt, but no one appeared to be looking at it in quite that frame of mind, and no one appreciated her excitement about the fern-like design that had bloomed on her lower calf, strange and unfamiliar and somehow pretty all at once. The nurse with eyes the same shade of brown as an oak tree simply smiled and clicked her tongue when Nikki had pointed it out, head tilting to the side in apparent sympathy.

_“Don’t worry, sweetheart, that just happens sometimes with lightning. The capillaries under the surface of your skin popped suddenly, creating that pattern. It should disappear in a few hours, maybe a few days at most, but it’s not permanent.”_

She’d said that as if she thought Nikki wanted it to disappear.  _Wanted_  it to disappear! 

Nikki grumbled to herself, idly prodding at her snack with the plastic spoon that she was currently clutching in her balled-up fist. So much for having anything to show for surviving something as cool as being hit by lightning. Throwing the utensil down, she craned her neck back so it was resting on the too-stiff pillow provided by the hospital staff before she let out a huge, gigantic, I-don’t-want-to-be-here-anymore sort of sigh. The seats in the corner of the room meant for visitors were empty and would remain empty, and something deep inside of her heart crumpled at that. Old feelings, old wounds.

She was so lost in her own musings that she didn’t notice the sound of squabbling floating down the long stretch of hallway, not until it was right outside her closed door, the same closed door that burst open with a surprising amount of force as soon as she peered up, not comprehending what was going on until arms encircled her, nearly frantic, grabbing at her while simultaneously trying to avoid the tube in her arm, gentle but firm. There were noises, too, garbled sounds of scratchy throats and rough voices mingling and meshing with one another to the point that it was impossible to understand anything that was being said. It also looked as if they’d both been crying, her boys, the tear-tracks on their faces shining in the fluorescent lighting. She half-expected Max to wipe the evidence of his blubbering and bawling away with a swipe of his jacket's sleeve, but he didn’t, opting to hold her hand instead. And Neil, sweet Neil who didn’t particularly like to touch others or be touched by others, did the same, squeezing her hand as if to both comfort her and ensure that she truly was there and not face-down in a parking lot somewhere, smoke billowing from her charred body.

“Sorry we’re late.” Neil muttered, issuing another squeeze, his thumb unconsciously moving in small circles.

“Yeah, the traffic sucked ass, and then the fucking nurses tried to stop us from coming back here.” Max added, hand immobile but with fingers still intertwined with Nikki’s.

“Oh, they did, did they?” Nikki grinned, suppressing a laugh.

Max let out a halfhearted snicker, not quite meeting her gaze. “The nerve of some people, right? What a bunch of assholes." There was something unspoken, but she heard the message loud and clear.

Neil snorted, swallowing past the thickness in his throat. “We’re just… _really_ glad you’re okay, Nikki."

"Can't be a comedy trio with only two people."

"You're right, we can't."

God, she wanted nothing more than to hug them, and she wanted nothing more than to hug them properly, a bone-crushing, spine-splitting, infamous Nikki hug, the kind that you felt in the very fiber of your being, but she had to settle for slinging her free arm around them, pulling them closer to her chest.

“Thanks, guys, it really means a lot that you’re here.”

And for a moment, maybe she wasn’t as upset that she wouldn’t get a bad-ass scar from her near-brush with death. Maybe.

**Author's Note:**

> Basically the idea behind this originates from a headcanon I have that Nikki gets struck by lightning twice in her life (once indirectly, once directly) and lives to tell the tale. I pumped this out pretty quickly and I'm not sure how great the quality is because I wrote this story and I'm writing this description right now in the early hours of the morning, but I wanted to get it out there and out of my system. Also, I imagine Nikki being in her late teens/early twenties in this, but that's a small side note.


End file.
